Sharing a Pavilion With You
Chapter 128: A Date at the Lantern Festival

Chapter 128: A Date at the Lantern Festival

[Suggested song for this Chapter: Those Eyes by New West]

Meili wore a pure white cloak trimmed with white fur at the collar and cuffs to protect her against the late-winter chill as she stood on a bridge waiting for Bai Li.

She gazed in amazement down the beautiful canal that was lit with colourful lanterns as far as the eye could see, a happy smile gracing her face.

Decorative boats were being pushed up and down the waterway by boatmen with long poles who ducked under the arched bridges.

Bai Li stood watching her from the shadows, his heart thudding at her innocent beauty and her sweet delight at the festival sights.

The feelings he had for her now were fixed and irrecoverable. He knew if he failed to marry her, and she became another man’s wife, that he would have very little to live for. There would be no one else for him in this lifetime; just a life of yearning, for however long his life may be.

Still, he had no regrets. How could he? This was his fate, and he would embrace every part of it.

Just at that moment she turned and saw him, even where he stood half-hidden. Her eyes locked onto his and the smile she flashed at him gave him a lump in his throat. He smiled gently back at her walking from the shadows into the light to join her on the bridge.

She turned and ran towards him.

"Li!" she cried.

Was she determined to send his heart into a racing frenzy?

"Oops, sorry, Bai Li," she amended, looking around furtively.

"It’s alright, Meili. There’s no one who knows us in sight. What are doing here alone? Where’s your chaperone?"

"Aren’t you my chaperone?" she teased. "Manni walked me here, but I sent her to buy things, slowly, when it was the appointed hour for us to meet," she told him.

She looked up at him for approval.

"Don’t put your safety at risk on my account, Meili," he said sternly. "Next time don’t send her away until I’m right by your side."

She nodded lightly, tripping back to the middle of the bridge. Nothing could dampen her spirits tonight, so he could scold her all he wanted.

"Look Li, isn’t it beautiful," she gestured at the canal lit by the moon and a cacophonous rainbow of lanterns.

He nodded, gazing at her side profile with a look that would have melted Meili’s heart if she’d seen it.

"Come on Li, take me to see it all," she called to him. "I want to see everything!"

He smiled fondly. "Alright, let’s go then. Stay close to me."

She fell into step beside him, her head whipping from left to right and back as she tried to take in the riot of sights and sounds, her happiness evident in the smile that never left her face.

She rushed towards stalls to look at their wares, Bai Li hovering close behind her, watching the things that she touched or showed an interest in, trying to learn what she liked and what he might gift her to please her.

When they passed a tangren stall, he bought her a sugar bunny rabbit on a stick.

"Li! This is the same as you and Tan Bowen lowered down into the ancestral temple for me when I was being punished," she cried.

He nodded. "You seemed to like it then."

"It made me so happy when I was very sad," she agreed, popping the bunny’s ears into her mouth and absently sucking on them as she looked everywhere about her.

She rushed over to a fan stall, her mouth ajar as she gazed at a stunning pink fan with a design of white camellia blossoms and butterflies. She closed her mouth and dashed away to the next stall which sold hairpins.

Bai Li gestured to the stall keeper who passed him the fan she had been admiring. He walked up behind her, peering over her shoulder at the hairpins she was gazing at. None of them were worthy of her, in his eyes.

The next stall sold jade pendants, and she stopped to look very carefully at these. She looked furtively behind her at Bai Li, motioning at him to give her some space.

"This one please," she whispered to the shopkeeper, tucking the pendant into her sleeve.

As they walked down the busy market street, Bai Li couldn’t help noticing all of the male stares that Meili was attracting, and he started to glower at the men. He moved closer to Meili so that their arms touched as they walked along.

Now a fellow had his eyes fixed on Meili with such a look that Bai Li quickly followed his gaze to see that he was leering at Meili’s chest, which strained at the bodice of her pretty pastel dress with her cloak fastened just above.

When the fellow moved in Meili’s direction, trying to get closer to her, Bai Li’s patience was tested too far.

He used his sword, still in its scabbard, to back the fellow up against the wall of a nearby shop.

"Keep your eyes off my woman, you foul beast," he growled.

"Y...yes Commander," the man was quaking in his boots, having recognised Commander Bai.

Meili stood watching in surprise as he strode back to her. "What was that about?" she asked him.

"Just a local miscreant," he said nonchalantly.

"Oh," she nodded trustingly, popping her tangren back in her mouth.

Her Li was always on duty, she thought proudly.

A procession of costumed men came up the middle of the street, the crowds parting to make way for them.

They wore red outfits and had big papier mâché heads, making them look both festive and eery at the same time.

Meili clapped joyfully along with the rest of the crowd as the men performed a routine for their audience.

Then one of the dancers grabbed her and swung her in a circle, his giant head bobbing, he passed her to the next dancer, who also performed a small dance with her, the young girl laughing with delight.

Bai Li followed the dancers with an eagle eye. The third man hooked his arm through Meili’s as he spun her in a circle, but he couldn’t help himself reaching out and touching the beauty’s cheek.

Bai Li flew through the air and took Meili in his arms, kicking the man full in the chest and sending him flying. The toppled fellow knocked down numerous other costumed dancers, like a bowling ball through skittles. Over-sized papier mâché heads went flying everywhere and the crowd gasped.